A Quiet Beginning To The Week

After a week of important data last week, earnings should dominate the news this week but so far, Monday is beginning much like Friday ended: quiet.
 
Dow futures are implying a slightly lower, 17-point open with the S&P lower by about three points.
 
Friday, the Dow was essentially flat closing seven points lower at 16,437.05 The S&P ended a volatile trading day nearly where it started at 1,842.37, and the NASDAQ gained 0.4 percent to close at 4,174.66.
 
Top Stories

• A Southwest (LUV) aircraft reportedly landed at the wrong airport. The Branson, Missouri bound aircraft landed at the M. Graham Clark-Taney County Airport, a much smaller airport about seven miles from its original destination.

• GM (GM) CFO Dan Ammann said that the company is closer to issuing a dividend.

• Suntory Holdings Limited and Beam Inc. (BEAM) today jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Suntory will acquire all outstanding shares of Beam for US$83.50 per share in cash or total consideration of approximately US$16 billion, including the assumption of Beam's outstanding net debt.

Asian markets ended the day mostly flat as investors reacted to the dismal U.S. jobs data released Friday. The Nikkei was up nearly 0.2 percent to end the day at 15,912.06
 
The Shanghai composite was down 0.4 percent to close at 2009.56 and the Hang Seng, up about 0.2 percent to close at 22888.76.
 
European Markets
Europe is following Asia’s lead and printing mostly flat numbers. The FTSE is up about 0.1 percent at 6746.87 and the CAC is up about 0.2 percent 4259.55. The DAX is up about 0.2 percent at 9498.73.
 
Commodities
Commodities are mostly lower this morning. WTI is down 0.6 percent at $92.15 while Brent is about 0.5 percent lower at $106.70. Natural gas is down nearly two percent to $4.13.
 
Gold is flat at 1245.70 and silver is trading down about 0.7 percent at $20.07 per ounce. Copper is down 0.5 percent at $3.32
 
Currencies
Major currency pairs are mixed. The euro is flat against the dollar at 1.366, the USD is 0.7 percent lower against the yen at 103.34 and the Aussie dollar is flat against the U.S. dollar at 0.902.
 
Pre-Market Movers

• Red Hat (RHT) is up 2.45 percent and Best Buy (BBY) is up 0.77 percent.

• Xyratex (XRTX)will report fourth-quarter earnings after the bell today. Analyst consensus is for a loss of $0.24 per share with revenue of $208.73 million.

• Tomorrow, earnings reports from Wells Fargo and JPMorgan begin a week of earnings reports from banks and financial institutions.

There are no major reports scheduled for today. A three and six month bill auction take place at 11:30 am ET.

By Tim Parker